by Dennis Bragg (KPAX/KAJ Media Center)
MISSOULA- Conservation groups are asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant an emergency injunction to stop the upcoming wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho, hoping to stop “hundreds of wolves” from being killed in the Northern Rockies.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater and WildEarth Guardians filed the request with the San Francisco court Friday. The move comes just over a week after U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled against the groups in their argument that a Congressional rider lifting endangered species protection for the wolves was unconstitutional.
Molloy expressed some reluctance in making the ruling, which considered whether Congress had overstepped the Separation of Powers Doctrine by including language forbidding the courts from overturning the amendment. Molloy implied that might not be constitutional, but case law prevented him from siding with the plaintiffs.
The conservation groups filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court earlier this week. But now, they’re also for the injunction to stop the hunts, which are scheduled to begin August 30th in Idaho, with an archery season September 3rd in Montana. The Montana rifle season starts September 15th.
Mike Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the groups are trying to do all they can “to hold back the tide of wolf-killing in Montana, Idaho, and elsewhere in the Northern Rockies.”
“Beginning in less than three weeks, hundreds of Gray Wolves that should be protected as endangered species are about to be hunted and killed,” says Garrity. “Our only option is to seek an Injunction to stop the illegal killing of wolves.”
“We’re continuing this battle because Judge Molloy’s ruling fully supports our contention that there is a well-established legal process that applies to every other species and that pure political expediency should not be the driving force by which of our nation’s imperiled animals and plants will or will not be protected for future generations,” Garrity explained.
Garrity believes the Ninth Circuit will want to look at the case closely “given the circumstances and the gravity of the Separation of Powers issue.”
